Sinks, basin, baths and similar water containment devices are invariably equipped with means for temporarily preventing water loss. Historically, rubber stoppers have been employed sized to snugly fit within a waste pipe in order to close the waste outlet when it is desired to fill the water containment receptacle. Separate stoppers, however, tend to lose their water retaining confirmation with the waste outlet opening and also can be lost or temporarily misplaced particularly in hotels and other publically available facilities.
Tubs and sinks have also been traditionally fit with a multi-part linkage so that the water retention stopper can be drawn within a conforming waste outlet fitting by pulling a rod usually located between the hot and cold water handles of the installation. However, such linkages tend to loosen in time so that it is not only difficult to achieve a watertight seal between the plug and outlet fitting but when the outlet becomes clogged, it is quite difficult without professional intervention to achieve access to the waste flow passage upon which the fitting resides.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,030 which issued on Jul. 3, 1984, describes an improved waste outlet fitting shown in FIG. 1. Specifically, waste outlet fitting 1 comprising tubular body 2 and plug 3 is illustrated where tubular body 2 comprises a tubular member 4 having an outwardly extending flange 5 at the upper end thereof and external screw thread 6 at the lower end thereof. Tubular member 4 is sealingly mounted in a waste outlet opening of a suitable water containment device such as a bath, basin or sink and a waste pipe is connected to its lower end. The tubular body 2 also includes an insert member 7 located within a counter-bore at the upper end of the tubular member 4. The insert member defines a part-spherical seat 8 in which the plug 3 is captive.
The patentee goes on to describe plug 3 as being generally disk-like shaped including a part-spherical periphery 9 complementary to seat 8. In use, when plug 3 is in the closed position as shown in FIG. 1, the periphery 9 sealingly engages the seat 8 and the body of the plug extends across the flow passageway 10 defined within the tubular body 2 in order to close the flow passage to fluid flow. When one wishes to open the flow passage 10, it is taught that finger pressure can be applied to any point of the upper surface of plug 3 adjacent its periphery and the plug is thereby swiveled to a generally up-right configuration about a horizontal axis passing through the centroid of the sphere defined by the seat and plug to an orientation shown in phantom by element 3'.
Although the waste outlet fitting of the '030 patent operates as suggested, the invention, by its very nature, exhibits a shortcoming to which the present invention now addresses. Specifically, if one wishes to drain a bath, sink or the like using the invention depicted in the '030 patent, one must immerse one's hand within the retained body of water, feel for the periphery of plug 3 and apply appropriate finger pressure to break the seal created by plug 3 enabling the water to drain. There are instances where one might hesitate or at least find it distasteful to place one's hand within a retained body of water due to its fouled or contaminated nature and, if sufficiently turbid, one might have a difficult time feeling for the appropriate peripheral location of plug 3 to apply finger pressure.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a waste outlet fitting similar to that shown in the '030 patent but yet which is capable of being opened and closed remotely without the need for employing complex multi-arm linkages traditionally found in prior art devices.
These and further objects will be more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.